Verstappen betrayed by 7 km / h too much, 04 December 2021 – The 2021 Formula1 World Championship continues to amaze, to subvert the forecasts and reserve surprises not only at each session, but now literally at every turn. Mercedes makes it safe a whole first row despite a car anyway not perfect, struggling to the last on the soft compounds, and forced to a compromise arrangement, given the high temperatures of the track. Wolff and his teammates cannot use the maximum downforce possible to try to manage the temperature of the tires, a situation that goes well with the hard compounds but much less with the soft ones, than, having little thermal inertia, they do not stay in the ideal operating window. Brackley’s team is betting on motor to compensate, but also on that front, on the one hand, reliability is a concern and it is not possible to exaggerate, on the other the Saudi track has many high travel speed, while the strength of the new Mercedes powerplant proved to be expressing torque in traction. Conversely RedBull showed up in Jeddah with a defined program, aimed at maximizing the result of the qualification and with a car mechanically exceptional in changes of direction continue at very high speed in the semi-insane Saudi city circuit. This combined aerodynamic efficiency typical of Newey’s design this season, it allowed Verstappen to find high speeds while generating the necessary load to be able to attack the new track. The result was a qualifying session to say the least wonderful, culminating in a series of laps on the verge of unconsciousness on the part of all the best drivers. Hamilton and Bottas, almost 4 tenths away after the first attempt, seemed to be unable to do anything against the overwhelming power of Red Bull, but a phenomenal lap for both the seven-time world champion and his Finnish companion (who in any case is always confirmed at the highest level on the flying lap). put ahead of time for Verstappen’s first attempt. The Dutchman, however, has more, and faces his last lap taking a series of risks incredible, between grazed walls and borderline controls. Max takes a further advantage three tenths at the braking point of the last corner and is holding the pole and in the other a piece of the world. Starting from the front on the Saudi track, however with a car with excellent performance, could give him hope of close accounts on the world championship dream, but the mistake right at the last braking relegates him to third position. We compared Hamilton’s lap with Verstappen’s one that ended up on the block to appreciate some aspects that we had detected during free practice, but which were also confirmed in qualifying. Verstappen is faster in the first sector, confirming the section between Turn 7 and Turn 12 as one of his strengths seen all weekend. Despite this Hamilton is able to improve a lot in that stretch compared to the previous laps, choking only at the exit of curve 5 and at the entrance of curve 8, contrary to what happened previously. On that stretch of track we literally saw a show of two phenomenal drivers. Hamilton then finds high speed in the draw but in all the sideways selective sections, where the car needs great performance on transverse load transfers, the Red Bull confirms its superiority. 14 km / h at turn 17 And 11 to curve 23 there are considerable numbers, which would guarantee Verstappen a comfortable pole. But the mistake of the last corner, as mentioned, changes everything. We analyzed the data and on his last lap, when he reached the braking point, Verstappen made a record 325 km / h, against the 318 of the previous attempt.
A good 7 km / h difference hence, they probably have caught unprepared the same Dutch driver, who actually detaches shortly before compared to his previous lap, but not enough to compensate for the large difference in speed, ending up on the dirt and then consequently along and against the wall.
The 2021 Formula 1 world championship continues amaze, to subvert the forecasts and reserve surprises not only at each session, but now literally at every turn. Mercedes makes it safe a whole first row despite a car anyway not perfect, struggling to the last on the soft compounds, and forced to a compromise arrangement, given the high temperatures of the track. Wolff and his teammates cannot use the maximum downforce possible to try to manage the temperature of the tires, a situation that goes well with the hard compounds but much less with the soft ones, than, having little thermal inertia, they do not stay in the ideal operating window. Brackley’s team is betting on motor to compensate, but also on that front, on the one hand, reliability is a concern and it is not possible to exaggerate, on the other the Saudi track has many high travel speed, while the strength of the new Mercedes powerplant proved to be expressing torque in traction. Conversely RedBull showed up in Jeddah with a defined program, aimed at maximizing the result of the qualification and with a car mechanically exceptional in changes of direction continue at very high speed in the semi-insane Saudi city circuit. This combined aerodynamic efficiency typical of Newey’s design this season, it allowed Verstappen to find high speeds while generating the necessary load to be able to attack the new track. The result was a qualifying session to say the least wonderful, culminating in a series of laps on the verge of unconsciousness on the part of all the best drivers. Hamilton and Bottas, almost 4 tenths away after the first attempt, seemed to be unable to do anything against the overwhelming power of Red Bull, but a phenomenal lap for both the seven-time world champion and his Finnish companion (who in any case is always confirmed at the highest level on the flying lap). put ahead of time for Verstappen’s first attempt. The Dutchman, however, has more, and faces his last lap taking a series of risks incredible, between grazed walls and borderline controls. Max takes a further advantage three tenths at the braking point of the last corner and is holding the pole and in the other a piece of the world. Starting from the front on the Saudi track, however with a car with excellent performance, could give him hope of close accounts on the world championship dream, but the mistake right at the last braking relegates him to third position. We compared Hamilton’s lap with Verstappen’s one that ended up on the block to appreciate some aspects that we had detected during free practice, but which were also confirmed in qualifying.
Verstappen is faster in the first sector, confirming the section between Turn 7 and Turn 12 as one of his strengths seen all weekend. Despite this Hamilton is able to improve a lot in that stretch compared to the previous laps, choking only at the exit of curve 5 and at the entrance of curve 8, contrary to what happened previously. On that stretch of track we literally saw a show of two phenomenal drivers. Hamilton then finds high speed in the draw but in all the sideways selective sections, where the car needs great performance on transverse load transfers, the Red Bull confirms its superiority. 14 km / h at turn 17 And 11 to curve 23 there are considerable numbers, which would guarantee Verstappen a comfortable pole. But the mistake of the last corner, as mentioned, changes everything. We analyzed the data and on his last lap, when he reached the braking point, Verstappen made a record 325 km / h, against the 318 of the previous attempt.
A good 7 km / h difference hence, they probably have caught unprepared the same Dutch driver, who actually detaches shortly before compared to his previous lap, but not enough to compensate for the large difference in speed, ending up on the dirt and then consequently along and against the wall.
A beautiful Ferrari and a very good Leclerc – Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari will start alongside Verstappen. The Monegasque was in turn the author of a beautiful ride at the end of Q3, which from the data appears to be in line from the point of view of the performance guide of the first 2, at least in terms of risks taken.
Ferrari brings to the track a good car, with Leclerc who goes to position himself between Hamilton and Verstappen in the first sector, he suffers in the parabolic and in the subsequent “esse”, but he literally tackles with his heart in his throat and with great courage the insidious curve 23, touching the speed of Verstappen the protagonist until that moment of that stretch of track. The Jeddah track is certainly treacherous and continues to represent a question mark on the security front, but from today’s qualification the quality of pilots, so much so that even from the data you can see how much of each driver there is in the times and performances seen on the track, always within the limits of the car, but literally bringing them to the extreme. Just look at the throttle map along the track that compares Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc between turn 4 and turn 10.
The three drivers face turns 5 and 6 in full. Hamilton and Leclerc partialize the entrance to 7, while Verstappen even remains in full up to the braking of the 9. You can also clearly appreciate how Hamilton works modulating the pressure on the gas pedal, Verstappen is a lot more aggressive strong of a car with very high grip in direction changes, while Leclerc is in some way a middle between two. A real driving show.
The race continues to be an unknown. Obviously nothing could happen, but the conformation of the track remains one of those that most favors him accidents and the entrance to the Safety Car even several times during the Grand Prix. Mercedes at this point he leaves favorite, although it was not the best car in qualifying, but the challenge between Verstappen and Hamilton has accustomed us to comebacks and surprises throughout the year so the final result is anything but written or taken for granted.
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